The first Tesla Motors Supercharger station in Australia that’s not in the middle of Sydney has been confirmed and approved, and it’s slated for Goulburn in New South Wales’ Southern Tablelands. Part of an entirely free, nationwide, high speed electric vehicle battery charger network, the set of eight Superchargers in Goulburn will come online before June.
Goulburn will get its set of eight Superchargers some time during the second quarter of this year, but they should be up and running before June. Installing a Supercharger setup in this location means that Model S drivers will be able to drive the 290km distance between Sydney and Canberra entirely free; the Model S’ maximum 502km rated range falls just short of a return Sydney-Canberra trip, requiring a recharge at some point along the way.
Superchargers are currently the fastest commercial vehicle chargers available, and will add a full 270km of range to a Model S’ battery in a half-hour charging period. The 200km distance between the Sydney CBD and the Goulburn Supercharger, for example, would be replenished in around 25 minutes of charging at the station. As with any high-capacity, high voltage battery the Model S’ floor-mounted cell will charge fastest between 10 and 80 per cent; a full charge to the 85kWh Model S’ 502km maximum rated range takes around 75 minutes.
The Superchargers in Goulburn will be located at the Goulburn Visitors’ Centre, located just off the Hume Highway, so drivers can take a short detour from their Sydney-Canberra trip to recharge and grab a coffee or a quick bite to eat. These Superchargers will join the more than 1600 around the world installed by Tesla, and are the first of a network of 16 stations — possibly over 100 individual Superchargers in total — in Australia.
Australia’s 120kW Superchargers are much more powerful than the 100kW units originally installed in 2012 as part of the network in the US, but fall slightly short of the currently-reigning high-speed 135kW chargers used in some parts of Europe. Tesla’s Goulburn Supercharger installation won’t be solar powered — as only a select few Californian and Chinese fast-charging stations are — but Tesla AU will be purchasing electricity from renewable sources, to ensure owners’ peace of mind and deliver clean energy to their all-electric supercars.